Living sustainably in Seattle

Sustainable living is
becoming less of a choice and more of a necessity.

As President Donald
Trump dismantles the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and refuses to
acknowledge deals such as the Paris Accord, it’s up to private citizens to make
meaningful changes to this country’s carbon footprint.

For many, this will
seem like spitting in the wind. With the world’s greatest superpower doubling
down on fossil fuels, what can a single person do to affect change in the climate?

From a pessimist’s
point of view you’d be absolutely right. However, fatalism won’t help the
climate.

To show how real
change is happening, let’s look at how citizens and companies in Seattle have
responded to climate change.

These tips from this thriving
tech city may make you look at your carbon footprint in a new light.

Duwamish Valley

The use of natural air
filters (plants, bushes and other types of greenery) has had a significant
impact on the air in the polluted Duwamish Valley in Seattle.

And they’ve been
created by a number of groups, including King County Wastewater Treatment
Division, Just Health Action, DIRT Corps, Duwamish Valley Youth Corps and
Duwamish River Clean Up Coalition.

Speaking to the Seattle Times, community engagement
and outreach manager for the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition Paulina Lopez
said, ‘The community needs to be empowered, and needs to be heard, and needs to
take action. Having a green wall is a great example of collaboration of work,
but also as a showing that concrete action can be taken and that can help
improve air quality. This is a way, also, of showing the community that if you
speak up, you can make a change.’

Seattle
Airport

The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
has been attempting a number of strategies to reduce air pollution. In doing
so, it’s securing the future of a number of companies working alongside it,
including Looking4.com,
Aqua Terra and Anthony’s Restaurant.

The airport has been making headway on
sustainable aviation fuels and has changed other vehicles to their electrical
variants (electric cars, vans etcetera). Alongside this, it will become the
first US airport to have electrical charging outputs across runways, helping
reduce pollution even further.

According to KUOW,
the airport aims to get 10 percent of its fuel from locally produced biofuel a
decade from now and 50 percent by 2050. Will this be nothing more than a drop
in the ocean? Only time will tell.

Amazon

Worldwide consumer site Amazon has been
under fire from Seattle employees over its lackadaisical attitude to climate
change

In another interview with the Seattle
Times, Weston Fribley, a software engineer in Seattle, said, ‘We’re in a
position as Amazon employees where we can push for Amazon to be a leader in the
climate space. We think that by having a group of co-filers, we’re showing how
broadly felt this concern is within Amazon.’

We
hope you found these examples useful. Is there anything you’d like to
contribute to the debate? Then let us know in the comments below.